SY19-3 Delirium and family care for end-of-life cancer patients

Abstract

Delirium occurs in approximately 90% of patients in the last days of life. Pharmacotherapy, mainly antipsychotics, has been generally recommended to palliate deliriumrelated symptoms. However, recent randomized placebo-controlled trials have questioned its effectiveness. For example, in terminally ill cancer patients with mild to moderate delirium and advanced cancer patients with hypoactive delirium, symptoms of delirium were rather more likely to deteriorate after starting pharmacotherapy